Payment for goods and services is generally performed using cash, checks, credit cards, prepaid cards, and debit cards. The use of credit cards, prepaid cards, and debit cards (“payment cards”) allows buyers not to carry cash to pay for goods and services.
Current payment card payment systems in a merchant environment require a buyer to use his or her payment card at a point-of-sale (“POS”), such as a cash register, to purchase goods or services. The POS reads payment information (e.g., account number) from the payment card via a magnetic strip or another memory device integrated into the payment card, as understood in the art. In response, the POS communicates the payment information to an epay system, which, in turn, routes the payment information to a financial routing system. The financial routing system determines with which financial program (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, American Express) and institution (e.g., Citibank, Bank of America, etc.) the payment information is associated and routes the payment information to the financial program and/or institution for processing.
As technology has advanced rapidly, especially in the field of telecommunications, payment systems have attempted to leverage from the technological advancement of telecommunications to enable mobile devices to be integrated into financial transaction processes. Traditional mobile device financial transaction processes require a mobile device to wirelessly communicate payment information, including an account number and other relevant information (e.g., expiration date and name), to a cash register. The cash register in turn, communicates the payment information to the epay system, financial routing system, financial program, and financial institution to receive approval for the financial transaction, as previously described. The incorporation of the mobile device into the financial transaction process, however, merely eliminates the need for the consumer to carry a payment card. However, as one would expect, a problem of wirelessly communicating financial information in a retail environment includes potential interception of account information. As a result, consumers and retailers have been resistant to adopting mobile device financial transaction processes.